Sunday editorial: Derail the bullet train

The hype and excitement surrounding a high-speed commuter rail to connect major Florida cities in the decades to come does not measure up to the $50 billion that Gallagher estimates it will cost to build all five phases.

To put Gallagher's argument in perspective, he offered this example at a meeting of The St. Augustine Record's editorial board. He said estimates put the cost of the first phase, Tampa to Orlando, at $2.6 billion. "It's enough money to pave in gold all lanes of Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa 19 times over. A thin layer of gold but a gold one," he said.

And the later the project starts, the higher the costs.

In more serious terms, Gallagher says the bullet train cost will take money away from transportation projects providing greater benefits to more people. In St. Johns County, backlogged road projects awaiting funding exceed $80 million. Projects such as the State Road 312 western bypass and County Road 210 widening are more important to us than a bullet train.

It will eventually eat into whatever money the state has for everything else. Think about education and social services for example.

In other words, our quality of life is going to be in serious jeopardy if this train keeps rolling along.

You can help stop this train but you must act quickly.

Gallagher is chairman of Derail The Bullet Train. It is a private initiative begun in Palm County to inform the public about the project's cost.

Now it's a statewide effort to get 488,722 signatures verified by Aug. 3 so that the initiative gets on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. The thrust is to repeal the constitutional amendment passed in 2000 that requires the state to build the high-speed rail network.

Gallagher expects to meet that goal handily.

In addition to enough signatures, the proposed ballot initiative must be approved by the Supreme Court before it goes on the ballot.

You can help by signing this week. You can find it via the Internet at www.derailthebullettrain.com .

You can't e-mail it back because you have to sign it. Just print it out and follow the directions to get it in the mail to Derail the Bullet Train, P.O. Box 6291, Tallahassee, FL 32314-6291.

Urge your friends to do so also.

And then when it gets to the ballot, be sure and vote for repeal and permanently derail the bullet train.